Iowa football: Five things we learned from Hawkeyes media day
By Andrew Wade
The QB battle will be worth watching
We all know Nate Stanley is the starter in 2019, but who is starting in 2020 has already become a big topic of conversation. Stanley has been the full-time starter for two seasons, going on three, and for the most part, he has been quite successful. Sure, he struggles from time to time with accuracy and placement, especially when pressured, but there are moments that make you see what kind of special talent he could be.
Behind him though is many questions and little to no answers.
Peyton Mansell is currently listed as the number two and is the only one behind Stanley to have actually taken snaps and thrown a pass, but behind him is Spencer Petras who has the size (6’5” and 230 pounds) and arm that the Iowa football team typically values. At third on the depth chart is incoming freshman Alex Padilla.
Although the quarterback battle this year will not fully determine who starts at quarterback next season, it will give us a good glimpse as to which way the coaching staff is leaning. If the depth chart stays the same, then we can’t read as much into it, but if something changes (such as Petras overtaking Mansell), that’s going to be huge heading into next season.
It sounds like as of now, it’s wide-open:
"We’re just going to let all these things play out a little bit, and if somebody is just doing that, we’ll go ahead and move guys around. But we’ve got a lot of guys competing, and I think right now that are kind of in the same general area and we’ll see what surfaces."
This will be one of the key battles over the next month and will have a profound impact on the Iowa football program.